The Wizards moved with lightning speed to fill the position, which was vacated when Chris Henderson left the team to become Seattle FC's Tamperer-in-Chief.

A year ago.

It's been quite some time since we checked in on Freddy Adu's progress in Europe.

I'm just saying.

Dedicated Dallas FC blogger "Scott" ISN'T TERRIBLY PLEASED about coach Schellas Hyndman commenting that he has no interest in young players.

It's a nice rant, but honestly it's his graphic that makes it worth the click.

It is undeniable though that Dallas FC is in a tough spot right now.

As noted today in THE STAR ETELGRAM, their two best players are going to be either a) gone or b) very unhappy this season.

For a team that missed the playoffs and needs to be doing some serious overhauling, that's a bad position to be in.

Kenny Cooper only made $83,000 last year, a ludicrous amount even by MLS standards and it's hard to blame him for wanting more.

They'd be tempted to make him a DP but the league isn't wild about the precedent. But if the league can't get a deal they like from overseas during the January window, then Cooper's going to be a very unhappy guy.

Ditto Dallas's Argentine midfielder Pablo Richetti, whose $138,000 salary in 2008 was certainly an improvement over Cooper's, but he thinks maybe twice that would be more along the lines of his true worth.

All of which makes it difficult for Dallas to know how much they have available to spend for their 2009 roster. And the season is only three months away.